Chapter 552: Merits of Administration

After sending Zhang Yu off to attend his online class, Gui Yuanzi sent a message to Jin Jun.

Gui Yuanzi: It’s arranged. He’s obediently taking his online class now.

Jin Jun: Many thanks, Senior Brother. I’ll reward you handsomely.

Gui Yuanzi glanced at the reply, nodded slightly, and sent back: Just pay in spirit coins.

As an old Gold Core cultivator, Gui Yuanzi’s technical level had long since fallen behind the new generation of Gold Core Realmen.

He had thought about competing, working harder, striving to keep up—but every new Gold Core in the university seemed smarter, more talented, more gifted, and better connected than he was.

Falling further behind with each passing year, he was now left teaching subjects like History of Artifact Refinement Techniques, while his projects and experiments barely limped along.

Gui Yuanzi estimated that it was only a matter of time before he was pushed out of the Artifact Refinement Department and reassigned to some garbage field like Security or Transportation.

But he had since come to terms with it. No longer did he bother competing with the other Gold Cores—he focused solely on making money. As long as it wasn’t illegal, he’d do it for the right price.

Earn more spirit coins, live a few more years—that was his only goal now.

And helping a small fry like Zhang Yu make up for missed classes, all while following proper regulations, didn’t seem like a big deal at all.

Watching Zhang Yu still obediently attending class, Gui Yuanzi thought to himself, “Is this kid stupid? Actually taking class? Doesn’t he know he could just bribe me a little?”

“Or maybe I wasn’t obvious enough?”

Just as Gui Yuanzi was debating whether to drop another hint, he noticed that Zhang Yu had suddenly left the Spiritual Realm classroom—exiting the online course he’d personally started.

“Huh?” Gui Yuanzi froze for a second, then grew furious. “This brat dared to skip class right in front of me?”

To Gui Yuanzi, this was blatant disrespect—a slap to the face.

He immediately sent Zhang Yu a message.

Gui Yuanzi: Where are you?

Gui Yuanzi: Get back here and finish class right now.

Gui Yuanzi: Otherwise, you can forget about passing my course.

Just then, his ocular display flashed—a message from Feng Yuhan of the Research Division.

As the director of the Research Division, Feng Yuhan had authority over project grants and research loans. To Gui Yuanzi, that made him an untouchable superior—someone he absolutely couldn’t afford to offend.

Seeing the name, Gui Yuanzi straightened up. “I’ll deal with Zhang Yu later.”

He immediately logged out of the Spiritual Realm and headed to the Research Division office.

When he entered, he saw light flickering within Feng Yuhan’s eyes—clearly, the man was busy with some task.

A low-grade intelligent Artifact Spirit assistant materialized before Gui Yuanzi and said, “Professor Gui Yuanzi, Director Feng is currently at work. Please wait a moment.”

Gui Yuanzi nodded and sat down to wait.

That “moment” lasted a full two hours.

Two hours later, Feng Yuhan finally glanced his way and sent a file over.

“This grant application form is written wrong. Take it back and rewrite it. Bring it to me tonight.”

Gui Yuanzi blinked, startled, then immediately grew nervous.

Though his projects weren’t many, and his funding was small, half of every grant that came in went straight into his own pocket. It was a crucial income stream.

Now, hearing that he had to rewrite the materials, he asked anxiously, “Director Feng, could you please tell me what’s wrong? I’ll fix it right away.”

Feng Yuhan frowned impatiently. “Everything’s wrong. Redo it.”

“Alright, go on, don’t waste my time. If I don’t get your revision by 10 tonight, I’ll assume you’re forfeiting the funds.”

Back in his office, Gui Yuanzi realized his draft really had been too sloppy. So he poured his heart into rewriting it—carefully polishing every line—and then submitted it again, confident that it was flawless.

Feng Yuhan glanced at it and said without even looking up, “Still no good.”

Gui Yuanzi froze. “Huh?”

Feng Yuhan’s tone turned icy. “Gui Yuanzi, do you even want this grant?”

“Take it back and rewrite it.”

“Think carefully about what’s wrong.”

Utterly confused, Gui Yuanzi sought reference materials, consulted colleagues, and spent the whole night rewriting again.

The next day, he nervously submitted his newest draft.

But before the file even finished transmitting, Feng Yuhan gave a cold snort. A spark of lightning flashed in his eyes and exploded before Gui Yuanzi’s face.

“Gui Yuanzi, you’ve been in the Artifact Refinement Department for years. It’s bad enough your skills can’t keep up—but now you can’t even write a proper grant application?”

Gui Yuanzi forced a bitter smile. “Director Feng, please, just tell me what’s wrong—”

Feng Yuhan cut him off sharply. “You need me to teach you this? You’ve wasted your years. You’re a disgrace to every Gold Core cultivator!”

The tirade was scathing. Feng Yuhan was younger than him, yet now berating him like a child. Gui Yuanzi’s spiritual power surged with anger, and flickers of light trembled in his eyes.

But remembering that his funding was still in this man’s hands, Gui Yuanzi swallowed his fury and continued listening in silence.

“You old Gold Cores think you can just coast on your past achievements. You’ve forgotten what it means to serve the academy and the sect. You’re getting lazier every year.”

After another round of verbal lashing, Feng Yuhan pointed at a desk. “Sit here. Rewrite it again. I’ll check it personally. Ask me if you don’t understand something.”

Grinding his teeth, Gui Yuanzi sat down like a student and began revising once more.

A short while later, another visitor entered the office—Zhang Yu.

“Zhang Yu? Ah!” Feng Yuhan’s tone immediately lightened. “I’ve already received your experimental loan application. It’s approved—you didn’t need to come in person.”

“Thank you, Director Feng,” Zhang Yu said.

Feng Yuhan nodded. “Don’t forget to join the projects under True Lord Magneto and True Lord Xianyin. If you run into issues, come to me. I’ll do my best to help.”

Zhang Yu smiled faintly. He hadn’t expected that after mentioning yesterday how the make-up class might interfere with his Nascent Soul Law Husk experiment, Feng Yuhan would personally step in so quickly.

From Feng Yuhan’s perspective, he’d already minimized Zhang Yu’s schedule conflicts. Any more delays, and the Nascent Soul Realmen from the Artifact Refinement Department would start pestering him again.

As for History of Artifact Refinement Techniques—did that even count as a real class?

He glanced at Gui Yuanzi and thought, Next year I should recommend turning that course into self-study and reassign him to the Transportation Department to deliver packages. No need to let him leech project funds here.

And since Zhang Yu was connected to the Righteous Gods’ faction, maintaining good relations with him was all the better. As a follower of the Evil God, Feng Yuhan had come to realize that befriending the righteous side was, ironically, the “righteous path” for an Evil God believer.

“Zhang Yu’s got backing from the Righteous Gods. Being friendly with him will help me with my Evil God faith work, too.”

As the two exchanged polite words, a thunderclap seemed to explode in Gui Yuanzi’s head.

“So Zhang Yu’s this close with Director Feng?!”

“Jin Jun, you’ve ruined me!”

Cursing Jin Jun bitterly in his heart, Gui Yuanzi turned toward Zhang Yu. “Zhang Yu—”

“What was that?” Feng Yuhan’s cold gaze cut him off. “Stop talking. Keep writing.”

Watching Gui Yuanzi shrink under the glare, Zhang Yu couldn’t help thinking, Administrative teachers do have their merits. Some of the faculty in this University City really do need a firm hand.

After leaving Feng Yuhan’s office, Zhang Yu received a message from Gui Yuanzi.

Gui Yuanzi: Zhang Yu, I was too rash the other day.

Gui Yuanzi: From now on, for my class—come if you like, skip if you want. You’ll always get full marks.

Zhang Yu: Just follow proper leave procedures, Teacher.

Zhang Yu: And as for grades—please grade me according to what I earn. No special treatment.

With that issue settled, Zhang Yu once again poured his full attention into building the prototype machine.

…

In Jin Jun’s lab.

Under the guidance of a highly paid instructor, Jin Jun’s refinement progress improved dramatically. Any flaw or oversight was instantly corrected, and his efficiency soared—he could feel himself growing stronger by the minute.

When the final calibration finished, the prototype machine before him gleamed brightly—it had reached Level 5.

Satisfied, Jin Jun nodded and opened his ocular interface, seeing that his transfer to Gui Yuanzi had been accepted.

But when he tried to message him, he got a notice: You are not on this user’s friend list.

“Huh? He deleted me?” Jin Jun frowned.

He wasn’t sure what had happened, but glancing at the Level 5 prototype before him, his smile returned.

From what he’d gathered through Su Yunni, Zhang Yu’s side had completed a Level 1 prototype—but his work looked rushed, disorganized, and full of messy shortcuts.

To Jin Jun, that was Zhang Yu’s true level showing through—reckless and unstable, dragging his entire team into chaos.

“A civil engineering student will always be a civil engineering student. When it comes to real Artifact Refinement skill, he just can’t compete.”

Over the next month, guided by his hired teacher, Jin Jun’s progress accelerated. His prototype kept improving, his lab ran smoothly, and his confidence in acing the Military License Exam only grew.

…

Mid-January.

In Ye Xingli’s lab.

As the final restriction sank into place, Zhang Yu watched as his prototype of the Heaven-Sun Radiance Divine Prototype burst into dazzling light—and couldn’t help but smile.

He had finally refined it to Level 11.